Qi Deviation?

During the two days they had spent together, Zhou Si had never competed with him for demonic beasts. Whenever they came across a demon nest, she had stepped aside of her own accord and let him make the kills.

On that basis alone, giving her the ape demon's corpse was no loss.

Zhou Si opened her mouth, still intending to refuse, but when she met Lu Feng's utterly unruffled gaze, she swallowed the words on her tongue.

He truly thought nothing of the second-tier demonic beast.

"...Then thank you, junior brother Lu." In the end, she accepted the ape demon's corpse and carefully placed it in her storage bag. Then she looked up and added earnestly, "If you ever need help with anything, just come find me. My cultivation may be ordinary, but I'm reasonably well informed."

She was being modest.

Her strength was unquestionably among the best of Su Prefecture's demon slayers at the same level. She had only said otherwise because she had seen Lu Feng in action. Before that, she had always believed herself the strongest of the five. She had never expected the most inconspicuous one to be the true expert.

An hour later, Zhou Si's injuries had stabilized.

"Shall we head back now?" She stood and moved her right shoulder. It still ached faintly, but it was no longer a serious problem.

"No rush." Lu Feng shook his head, looking toward the deep, shadowy forest outside the cave. "Focus on healing your injuries, senior sister. I'd like to stay another day and search this part of the rear mountain again."

Zhou Si's eyes flickered, and she understood his meaning at once.

Their experiences over the past two days had indeed been strange.

Seven demon nests, all filled with minor demons that had yet to reach the first tier, without a single first-tier demonic beast among them. This ape demon's lair alone had been the exception-two first-tier beasts had guarded the entrance, while a second-tier one held the depths.

But given the second-tier ape demon's strength, commanding a horde of unranked minor demons should have been easy. Why, then, had there been only a handful of little ape demons in its lair?

Where had all those first-tier demonic beasts gone?

Zhou Si asked no further questions. She sat cross-legged again and continued circulating her cultivation technique to heal.

Lu Feng, meanwhile, got up and searched the ape demon's cave inside and out. He left no part of the walls, floor, or corners unchecked.

He found nothing.

There were no hidden passages, no secret chambers, and no traces left by other demonic beasts. The cave was like a carefully selected "exhibit," clean to an abnormal degree.

The next day, Zhou Si's injuries had healed.

The two searched the rear mountain again from south to north, encountering only a few scattered, unranked minor demons, probably ones they had missed during their first search.

Aside from those, there was still no sign of any first-tier demonic beasts.

"Let's head back first," Lu Feng said calmly, standing at the highest point of the rear mountain and looking down over the entire forest. "We'll see if the others found anything."

Zhou Si nodded.

Without further delay, the two used their lightness skills and sped toward the Fire Saber Sect.

In Zhou Si's room at the Fire Saber Sect.

Zhu Lin and Luo Fang were both there, but Liu Yong was absent.

"Where's Liu Yong?" Zhou Si asked with a frown, looking around.

"He went into the city early this morning to look for clues. He hasn't come back yet," Luo Fang replied. Then her gaze swept over Zhou Si and Lu Feng. "How did things go on your end?"

Zhou Si did not answer immediately. She went to the table and sat down, then recounted everything the two of them had experienced on South Rear Mountain from beginning to end-the seven demon nests without a single first-tier demonic beast, the strange layout of the ape demon's cave, her injury at the ape demon's hands, Lu Feng killing the second-tier ape demon alone, and the results of their later search.

When she finished, Zhu Lin and Luo Fang both turned to Lu Feng and looked him up and down several times, as though they were meeting him for the first time.

"Lu Feng, then why are you still a demon-slaying guard?" Luo Fang couldn't help asking.

"Is that the point?" Zhou Si tapped the table irritably. "We're discussing the demonic beasts right now."

Zhu Lin and Luo Fang exchanged a glance. The surprise faded from their faces, and their expressions gradually grew serious.

"It is suspicious," Luo Fang said after pondering for a moment. She raised her head. "Just like the Fire Saber Sect's disciple. Could it also be Qi deviation?"

"What do you mean, just like the Fire Saber Sect's disciple?" Lu Feng's gaze sharpened as he looked at Luo Fang. "What did you find?"

Luo Fang took a thin booklet from inside her robe and opened it to a page densely covered with the results of their investigation over the past few days.

"After several days of counting and questioning, we found that the Fire Saber Sect currently has 18,321 disciples who haven't reached Ru Jin, eight Ming Jin disciples, and Nei Jin martial artists... only the sect master, Zhu Ren."

The numbers made Zhou Si's brows draw together at once.

More than eighteen thousand disciples, and only eight at Ming Jin?

"By rights, with that many disciples, there should be at least a hundred Ming Jin martial artists," Zhou Si said quietly. "That ratio really isn't normal."

"We thought something was wrong too, so we went to ask Zhu Ren specifically." Zhu Lin took up the account. "He gave two reasons."

"First, these disciples of the Fire Saber Sect are mostly ordinary people. Life was hard for them, and the sect provided food and lodging, so they flocked to join."

Zhou Si nodded, a thoughtful look appearing on her face. "In that case, this Zhu Ren seems like a good man."

A sect had taken in nearly twenty thousand impoverished people, fed and housed them, and didn't even insist on cultivation talent. If that was true, Zhu Ren really did deserve to be called a "good man."

But why would a good man have a sect grounds that was strange at every turn?

"And the second reason?" Lu Feng asked.

Luo Fang turned to another page in the booklet, her gaze lingering on it for a moment.

"The second reason is a problem with the cultivation technique."

Luo Fang turned to another page in the booklet and tapped it lightly with a fingertip.

"The Fire Saber Sect's cultivation technique... is rather violent. According to Zhu Ren, without medicinal pills to assist them, it's very easy to suffer Qi deviation during cultivation."

She raised her head, her gaze sweeping over the others' faces.

"Oh, right. On the very day you left for the rear mountain, a Ming Jin disciple in the sect died from Qi deviation. The three of us went to see for ourselves. His meridians had indeed reversed because of Qi deviation; there was no mistaking it."

Lu Feng's gaze sharpened slightly. "Is that disciple's body still here?"

"No." Luo Fang shook her head. "After the three of us examined it and confirmed there was no mistake, Zhu Ren sent people to bury him. He was buried in the graveyard on the rear mountain."

"What about the room the disciple lived in? I'd like to take a look."

Luo Fang frowned slightly, a trace of displeasure entering her voice. "Is that necessary? We already searched that room and found nothing. Or do you not trust us?"

Lu Feng did not answer.

Zhou Si spoke up at the right moment, her tone mild. "How about this, Luo Fang? You and Zhu Lin can ask the ordinary disciples more about the situation. Lu Feng and I will search the room again, just to be safe."

Luo Fang huffed but did not refuse again. She took a simple map of the Fire Saber Sect from her sleeve, marked a spot on it, and handed it to Zhou Si.